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Kitchen Sink Multigrain Miche, with Apologies to Jeff Hamelman

August 28, 2011 - 9:15am

louie brown

Kitchen Sink Multigrain Miche, with Apologies to Jeff Hamelman

Looking to clear up the number of packages containing small amounts of flour, seeds, grains, etc., I noticed that Hamelman mentions in his description of one of his five grain loaves that it looks nice as a large boule. Having neither the time, the patience, nor, most important, the space in the fridge (I like these retarded overnight) I took him at his word and made up the loaf below. It contains at least three different kinds of seeds, all toasted, cracked rye, bulghur, steel cut oats, dark whole wheat, flax, flaxseed meal, who knows what else. It is really more like cereal baked with some flour and water into a loaf.

Notwithstanding the mountain of ingredients I packed into this dough, it fermented and proofed nicely and baked up into a five pound (2 kilo+) loaf with fantastic taste. It's four inches high. Needless to say, wildly open crumb is not the goal here.

In the oven, the loaf took a full hour to reach 200 degrees internal temperature, and about six or seven hours to be dry enough to cut. It was even then still a little ragged, as you can see.

This loaf is a meal in itself. A goodly slice, toasted and topped with butter is all you need. Except maybe another one. Delicious, if a little overwrought. Sorry, Jeff.

Comments

Hi louie, I don't think your loaf is overwrought at all (it looks very, very tasty with all of those good things it's made with)!I'm looking at the assortment of ingredient bags I've got on the go, and thinking I should do the exact same thing.:^) from breadsong

As I say, it's really a delicious cereal held together by a gluten network. The toast is unbelievable.

I should have mentioned that my kitchen is still 80 degrees. My bulk fermentation could have been a touch shorter. The loaf doubled nicely in the fridge overnight and I baked it straight from there, per an interesting post from Dan Di Muzio I came across on the site this week. I wish we'd see more from him.

I've always been a fan of the odds-and-ends loaf, and this is a magnificent example. Looks like a perfect way to start the day. Figuring out how much water to use must have been an adventure with all those add-ins. Well done!

At one point in the mixing instructions, Hamelman says "adjust the hydration." In my case, that meant a couple of good glugs of water into the mixer. As I do so often when I'm improvising, I judged the dough by its feel. It behaved pretty well.

Absolutely gorgeous! I am on a phase of whole wheat, grainy type breads, and so is my husband - I don't think I would be brave enough to make a huge loaf like you did, my last time was a Poilane miche, it turned out great, but it was a bit of a hassle to handle.

liking breads, such as your beautiful foccaccia, that are fairly easy to make. This is an easy bread to make, and it's also easy to cut the formula in half, and even divide that into two smaller loaves, so handling a big dough needn't be an issue.

The real Hamelman multigrains, whether yeasted, sourdough, or rye sourdough, are terrific breads that are showing up on a lot of "five favorites" lists, and with good reason. Try one. You'll be glad.

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